As folks scramble to prepare for the holidays, I want to put you up on a financial management website called Mint.com
If you are like me, you are very detailed when it comes to keeping track of your money and this is a tool that might help. If you are paranoid about sharing financial info, this is not for you but if you can get over that initial fear, the website will help you categorize all of your expenses and make nice graphs to help you really understand where your money goes. More than that though, the site provides analysis on your spending trends and tips on how you can save money. Check it out, let me know what you think.

With its shortage of big-box grocery stores and the lack of enough fresh produce, much of Detroit could be said to be in a food desert. An urban agricultural movement is emerging as a solution to the problem. Read More…

“I once was sad because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet…”

-Ancient Proverb

“But love your enemies and do good…and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.”

-Luke 6:35

I know everyone thinks they know how the tradition of Thanksgiving began in America, with the Pilgrims breaking bread with the Native Americans. I watched the Mayflower like everyone else. However, no one ever explained to me why we pick a random day in November to be thankful. And what exactly are we being thankful for?

We’ve stated our position here, and this interview was a chance to communicate it on another platform. The issue to me is about embracing the next generation of activism and respecting the results that online activism has produced. The SuperSpade, Color of Change, and members of the blacknetaction coalition are committed to making a difference today, tomorrow, and beyond in a transparent, accountable, and measurable way.

Last Friday, less than 24 hours after you and thousands of other ColorOfChange.org members wrote to his bosses at ABC Radio, Michael Baisden issued an “apology.” It shows that we got Baisden’s attention, and that wouldn’t have happened without you.

We hoped Baisden was really going to step up, but he didn’t. Baisden’s statement fails every test of a decent apology. First, it misleads listeners about how he came to defame us. Then, it misrepresents the real interests of the Jena 6 families, to take another shot at us. Finally, it tries to sweep all the damage Baisden has caused under the rug, while doing very little to rebuild his listeners’ confidence in ColorOfChange or in online organizing as a strategy. Read More…

Barack Obama will be giving a talk at Googleplex in Mountain View, CA today, in which he will lay out a comprehensive, 5-point technology policy:

Ensure the full and free exchange of information among Americans through an open Internet and diverse media outlets.

Create a transparent and connected democracy.

Encourage the deployment of a modern communications infrastructure.

Employ technology and innovation to solve our nation’s most pressing problems, including reducing the costs of health care, encouraging the development of new clean energy sources, and improving public safety.

The most important piece of this is the second point of creating a “transparent and connected democracy.” Making government data and information available in standard, accessible formats is a brain-dead simple solution to the problem of not knowing how to access government information. The appointment of a US CTO is a good strategy because it would mandate someone with technical knowledge and experience actually make technology decisions [instead of people like Ted Stevens].

My hope is that other candidates will lay out thoughtful, progressive approaches to technology policy so that we can use this as another differentiator.

A majority of black Americans blame individual failings — not racial prejudice — for the lack of economic progress by lower-income African Americans, according to a survey released Tuesday — a significant change in attitudes from the early 1990s.

This sentence lead off an LA Times piece on class division in the Black community today. These results are not unique to Black people in this country, but they represent a dangerous trend of ignorance, selfishness, and a lack of empathy that does not paint a bright picture of the future. According to this, the "it takes a village…" proverb must be nearing obselescence.